A 17-year-old who claims Toronto police carded him, fractured his wrist and illegally strip searched him had five charges dropped by the Crown despite Ontario’s police watchdog, the Special Investigations Unit, concluding in February the officers responsible acted within reason.

The teen, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was charged with assault with intent to resist arrest, possession of a prohibited weapon and carrying a concealed weapon. He also faced a bylaw infraction of smoking within nine metres of an entrance or exit of a public building in St. James Town.

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Assistant Crown Attorney Edward Stimec said in a brief appearance in youth court on Monday he decided to withdraw all charges because it was “not in the public interest to proceed.” Stimec called the charges “minor offences.”

The teen’s lawyer, Selwyn Pieters, had filed a Charter of Rights & Freedoms application, arguing his client was subject to unreasonable search and seizure, and cruel and unusual treatment and punishment.

Pieters said the Crown reviewed the application and came to the “reasonable” conclusion to drop the charges.

He added his client is now considering filing a civil lawsuit against the Toronto police.

“I’m still anxious to cross-examine those officers as to why they’d have a finger in my client’s anus, why he would be handcuffed and forced against a wall when all he was doing was allegedly smoking a cigarette in front of a building,” Pieters said.

The teen was arrested outside the apartment building at 275 Bleecker St. on June 5, 2015, according to the SIU investigation. Police determined he was “intoxicated,” but when they moved to arrest him, he tried to flee.

He was taken down during a “brief but strenuous struggle.” Tony Loparco, the SIU director, determined officers used “reasonable” force.

“I am unable on the weight of the reliable evidence to reasonably conclude that the subject officer used anything other than reasonably necessary force when, confronted by a belligerent youth intent on physically resisting his arrest, the subject officer delivered a single open-hand strike to the youth’s face and assisted in wrestling him into submission,” Loparco said.

It’s almost as if the SIU is the judge, jury and prosecution in these cases.

Pieters said the investigation was “fundamentally flawed.”

“The SIU has an unreasonably high standard for charging police officers,” he said. “It’s almost as if the SIU is the judge, jury and prosecution in these cases. I have very little confidence in that body.”

One day after clearing the officers, the SIU opened a second probe into the teen’s arrest after the National Post inquired about the sexual assault allegations. The investigation is still ongoing, a spokesperson for the SIU said.

In an interview in February, the teen said he was “violated” during the strip search. He said police from 51 Division pinned him up against a wall — while he was in handcuffs — and removed his clothes.

They told him they were looking for drugs as they touched his testicles, made him bend over, spread his buttocks and forced a finger into his anus, he said.

Toronto police are legally allowed to carry out strip searches, but a body cavity search must be conducted by a qualified medical practitioner.

The teen was left in a holding cell with a fractured wrist, in his underwear and an undershirt, he said.

[Photo Peter J. Thompson] [For National story by Victor Ferreira/National] //NATIONAL POST STAFF PHOTOPolice did not contact a lawyer or the teen’s mother until after the search was finished, Pieters said.

The lawyer called the arrest of the teen, who is white, a result of police carding. Police in Ontario are now barred from the act of carding — the practice of routinely and randomly approaching citizens to collect personal information without investigative purpose.

The youth was allegedly standing in front of the Bleecker Street apartment building with three friends when police approached and demanded to see ID. The teen refused, Pieters said, and told the officers that he wouldn’t be carded. The SIU said he became “belligerent” at what he perceived to be “unlawful police carding.”

When the teen tried to use his legal right to walk away, Pieters said, he was tackled to the ground. The teen said his wrist was broken when an officer deliberately stomped on it when he was in handcuffs.

I really wanted that officer to look me in the eyes and tell me he didn’t do what my client (said he did ) … but we still will have the opportunity to do it.

Pieters said his client’s case shows there are larger issues concerning policing in underprivileged communities

“White kids that are poor are equally harassed as black kids,” he said. “It’s the criminalization of poverty.

“I really wanted that officer to look me in the eyes and tell me he didn’t do what my client (said he did ) … but we still will have the opportunity to do it.”